relative pay

when i started working at jollibee,
i receive 14.75 per hour.
even before that,
i always knew that time is valuable.
it was just better
to have numbers to back that up...



think:
how much (time/money)
will we earn/waste today?  :D

do not not do

when you're feeling down
and
it's taking you so long to get up and move,

just think about (among others)
the tasks left undone,
the praises for teammates left unsaid,
the people still unhelped,
the items in your bucket list
that needs to be accomplished.

Donald Shimoda: 
Here's a test to find out
if your mission on Earth is finished: 
If you're still alive, it isn't.

oh ghost reminder

do not deprive yourself
of some quality "me time".

there'd be times you'd need to unwind,
destress, or chillax
however you wish to call it.
let it bring you acceptance and grounding,
clarity and stillness.

after all,
you need to have a good supply of those.
remember,
you cannot give what you do not have.

flashback: my classic plants versus duh zombies

saturday night i visited my friend fritzie, spent the night with her...but her night is up to eleven piyem only so i had to face the pc by then til the end of my night at 2 eyem. good thing she introduced me to this craze - PLANTS VS ZOMBIES... the believed-to-be-addicting-pc game (that i have somewhat proven).

in this game, the basic goal is to prevent the zombies from breaching your defences (my plants) and destroying your base (my home). several defensive units are given and used. and there is a bit of economics (my forte) involved. i like the idea that i don't have an active attacking role. instead, i rely on my plants and my four 'i-know-will-work' plans...here's it:

(1) plan what i get/use. zombies do not appear for about 15 seconds, so i have time needed to plant a sunflower or two before the attack. i believe my sunflowers are the good friends and the good values that i have, they give me powers and i have to catch them (the powers they give) before they go to waste.

(2) place an attacking unit/support. though i don't attack, some of my plants will. they really have to or else my garden (my life's values) will be destroyed and my house (the fullness of me, my soul) will be attacked (who wants to read YOUR BRAINS ARE EATEN BY ZOMBIES message?)!

(3) keep clicking. i have to keep busy. an idle mind is the devil's playground. i need to work, study, learn from the school of life (that's the clicking) to protect myself from the sin of sloth and from being caught offguard once my attackers increase in numbers and ferocity.

(4) take only the units that i can use. there are cheaper units (my friends and the things that i learn for free) and somehow i needed them to repel my first attackers when i'm still stocking up on my sunpoints (these are the strengths that i gain from the values that i keep). there are also advanced units (they are the lessons i get only when i pay/sacrifice something to get them) which are more expensive, but are needed to destroy the tougher (or more numerous)zombies later.

so far, that's the level i have reached and the game plan i have made. soon, i'd be able to share my bigger plans as i go to higher levels  (greater goals usually entails steeper climb, harder challenges). i know as i progress deeper into adventure mode, other conditions will occur that will make me change tactics. but those four strategies i'd keep for a while.

here's a quick-look at the units and zombies i have/met so far:

sunflower. the more i plant, the more sun points will be available. as i wrote in the beginning, i think they are my good friends and the good values that i keep in my lifetime. 

pea shooter. this is the most basic attack unit/plant. firing rate is just so-so (just like my actions when i'm irritated- i'm overly kind to zombies) but it is also cheap (meaning it doesn't cause much heartache/headache). this means i can build them early even when values/strengths are failing- they try protect me the only way they know how.

wall nut. it's a defensive wall that can be destroyed, jumped, tunnelled, scaled, or flown over. (they are my poor tactics in dealing with my life's zombies, the devils all around). they are very useful however in some instances, like delaying the zombies from eating my patience whole.

cherry bomb. it's a one-use unit. when i place it in a cell, it destroys all the enemies in the eight cells around the unit. it's very handy but expensive and slow to build. [it's my almost on one-time 'flare-up' or 'breakdown' or whatever-it-is-you-call-it-moments that have become sort of a time-bomb that once i let it burst, the devils (zombies of my life) either die or lay low].

those four and the sun-shroom (inactive in day stages, a budget resource unit), fume-shroom  (a short range, high damage attack unit that can penetrate the screen door the zombie's defence used essentially as the flamethrower), and the grave buster (a special purpose one-use unit that destroys head stones and if placed near a zombie, it can be destroyed before it completes its task - i so wish i could have one of these in real life) are my dependable resources so far in my adventure.

and oh, not to forget the 'zombies'... a basic zombie usually comes in mass attacks. they are my stresses in life and i know that once the head is shorn off, the zombie is dead or dying. hence, i have to take pleasure in destroying them before they slowly destroy me.

the flag bearer is a zombie that signals a large horde. hmmm, it's completely unnecessary as the game already warns you of incoming zombie hordes but i guess, people like them exists- they tell you who backstabs you when all the while he/she is a part of the team...the game (my instincts) tells me ahead that he/she shouldn't be trusted and must be destroyed along with the others the soonest.

the metal bucket is a zombie with a bucket on its head. these are those who are with your usual zombies but way too thick-skinned to be affected by your defenses (read: sobrang kapalmuks). magnet-shroom, i heard (haven't seen one yet) will easily kill this bastard!

the pole vaulting zombie is like those enemies-in-disguise-of-a-caring-neighbor-or-pretending-to-be-friend. since it has it's way, it avoids the first plant it encounters in a lane by jumping over it, then proceeds as a basic zombie. only the tall nut will counter this unit's ability (that means, i have to look for ways to not be distracted or lure myself into believing this devil errr zombie).

see? the rules are simple…
in order to grow plants (in order to grow spiritually and become a good person), you have to protect your lawn from the zombies (people and events that are stressors and lead you to wrong path and soon will cause your downfall as a child of god), you need light (in promoting good values). there are several ways to get light: sunflowers (good friends), certain types of mushrooms (lessons from life), and, of course, the sun (god, whatever you conceive him to be).

PS. at the beginning of the game, i was introduced to crazy dave, my experienced-zombie-slaying-neighbour (well, he/she may be someone you thought of as crazy at first but later on you'd realize he/she is there to guide you as you go through your journey). he teaches you some strategy and sells you interesting tools to help protect your lawn (hmmm...we all need spiritual advisers or just anyone at all that will guide us in our decisions or strategies to better protect us from you-know-whats).

will i play this game again? perhaps.
will i go on fighting and living and protecting my humanity? YES!

die zombies! die!  (insert devil laugh here).

Ten Layers of Absolute Freedom by James Altucher

#1: 

Free from your own past and future. 

Which means: free of all regrets and petty hatreds 

from the past and anxieties and worries about the future.

#2: 

Free of other people’s opinions of you. 

You never ride above the clouds if everyone is 

holding you down into the rain.

#3: 

Free of the opinions of the masses.

#4: 

Free of the word “CAN’T”.

#5: 

Find someone who likes what you are doing.

#6: 

Now that people like something you are doing, 

start thinking of something you can charge for. 

A premium version of what you are doing.

#7: 

Only do your best work 2-5 hours after you wake up.

#8: 

You don’t need a lot to live like a king.

#9. 

Freedom is a path you choose every day.

#10: 

Realize that everyone you meet today 

has been sent down from an alien mother ship 

to teach you a lesson. 

Learn those lessons.

i want it clean (sometimes)

most of the time i wanted my hair to let them be. loose and curly, flowing and unkempt. it makes me different from all the other rebonded hair that i can see all around.

there was a time i had them straightened (oh well, for the heck of it). big mistake, they lost their natural moisture (why? beats me!).  they hated me for it. they brittled ...and it's as if one by one they committed suicide. i had to appease them (conditioners and all) but to no avail. i ended up having to cut the bunch a little shorter.

and now that they are  uber-long again, the bad-hair-days have become frequent especially that i'm on a writing-spree, i just can't take care of them. not now. not just yet. so again, most of the time i let them be. loose and curly, flowing and unkempt.

but sometimes, i want it clean and hidden. best solution is have it braided. the way angelina does it in tomb raider (lump tie them all semi-tightly first then braid then tie again at the end).  tada!

KG on teaching

"Speak to us of Teaching."

And he said:

No man can reveal to you aught but that which already lies half asleep

in the dawning of our knowledge.

The teacher who walks in the shadow of the temple,

among his followers, gives not of his wisdom but rather
of his faith and his lovingness.

If he is indeed wise he does not bid you enter the house of wisdom,

but rather leads you to the threshold of your own mind.

The astronomer may speak to you of his understanding of space,

but he cannot give you his understanding.

The musician may sing to you of the rhythm which is in all space,

but he cannot give you the ear which arrests the rhythm
nor the voice that echoes it.

And he who is versed in the science of numbers can tell
of the regions of weight and measure,

but he cannot conduct you thither.

For the vision of one man lends not its wings to another man.

And even as each one of you stands alone
in God's knowledge,

so must each one of you be alone in his knowledge of God and

in his understanding of the earth

taken from [Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet : On Teaching]
in celebration of life and teaching...and of TEACHERS DAY